


Aethervox

by xCassandra



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Smut, F/M, Love Triangle, Multi, Romance, School Life, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-09-28 00:58:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10060445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xCassandra/pseuds/xCassandra
Summary: You're just an ordinary girl that happens to be the cousin of the Adviser of the Crown Prince, Noctis Lucis Caelum. While you've gone your entire life not being noticed by the man whom you've had a crush on since you first set eyes on him in person when you were 15, strange events begin to happen in your dreams that start to interfere with your waking hours. A sudden class field trip to Altissia begins to cause sparks to fly when a revelation is made.You're just an ordinary girl... Right?





	1. Connect

_"Are you sure you want to do this?" The velvet tone of his voice broke the thickening silence in the air. Without a single moment of hesitation, your head seemed to move on its own, nodding in response. It had only been a moment since your answer, his eyes had burned his gaze into your memory. And soon enough, your body was plunged into an abyss that was only fitting of the endless field of fire within your heart._

 

An alarm. A painstakingly stubborn alarm. It's monotone beeping piercing the eardrums of all within an 80 mile radius. Seems dramatic, but you wouldn't be surprised. You quickly arose to a 90 degree angle on your bed with pink cheeks and a flustered expression, your hair a mess with some (H/C) strands sticking straight out. You heaved a sigh before turning your body to rest your feet against the cool wood flooring of your room. _Another dream about him..._ You thought to yourself. 

It had been the third dream that week. And each time, it felt more real than the last. But the thing was, whenever you woke up, the appearance of his face blackened in your memory. You couldn't for the life of you remember who it was that plagued your dreams. It almost felt cruel of your mind to do such a thing. The man had been so soft and gentle, each night a different date, but last night... it had finally reached the climax. So, you continued to blame your bloody alarm. Why you had decided to take morning classes was beyond your comprehension at the moment. 

With a groan, you pulled yourself off of your bed and walked to the bathroom to quickly brush your teeth and tame the knots in your hair. You looked in the mirror for a moment, staring at your reflection. _Today's going to be a good day!_ You chanted once in your head, smiling a bit at your reflection. Today was a day that you shared a class with _the_ Crown Prince. _The_ Noctis Lucis Caelum. 

In attempts to hopefully jinx the world into making it a good day, you put on a bit of light makeup to accentuate your facial features before going to your closet to pick out a cute outfit. You decided on a tight white long-sleeved shirt underneath a navy pinafore dress with black thigh highs. With your hands on your hips, you stared at your reflection until you were convinced that you looked good enough to be presented to the outside world. 

08:47. That was the time on the clock when your eyes happened to glance in its general direction. _Oh, crap! I'll never hear the end of it!_ Internally freaking out, you rushed down the stairs to the front door. Carefully putting on a pair of your favorite lace up boots, you grabbed your bag filled with a few school books and opened the front door, locking it before turning around to see the ever so famous Regalia parked in the street along the curb in front of your house. It must have been raining earlier, because the top had been up and the ground appeared a bit damp. Scurrying over to the passenger door, you opened it and sat on the fancy leather seat before fastening your seat belt. You smiled innocently as you stared straight in front of you, not wanting to acknowledge the demonic aura emanating from the man in the drivers seat who had been glaring over at you. 

"This is the third day in a row that you have been late. 8:45 has always been the decided time of arrival, why-" "Must I continue offering to escort you to school when you are never appreciative enough to be punctual, yeah, yeah. I _humbly_ apologize for my absolutely _inexcusable_ lateness, Ignis." You finished his sentence in a monotone voice, but added a bit of playfulness to the sarcastic apology. While you truly did appreciate your cousin taking you to school with him every day, my gods was it a double-edged sword sometimes. If you weren't out of the door at exactly 8:45, you had better be prepared for a tongue lashing. How you happened to be a member of his family tree while plagued with genes of procrastination and tardiness, you had no idea. Suddenly, you heard a low chuckle in the backseat in response to your statement. 

Your head flew to look at the source, as you knew that couldn't have been Ignis. The day Ignis laughs at something sarcastic that you've said at his expense might very well be the end of the world. Your eyes were welcomed to a gorgeous, sculpted face complimented with cerulean eyes and black locks that seemed to have a hint of a brown hue when the sunlight encountered each strand on his head. Your face had just barely started to turn red when you immediately faced forward again. You felt a nervous pang in your heart, and refused to reveal to anyone in the car of your hopeless crush on the Crown Prince. _Thank god I look nice today._ You thanked the Gods for giving you the strength this morning to make yourself presentable. 

You also cursed your cousin a thousand times in your head today for not letting you know in advance that Noctis would be joining us today. While it was unusual, it wasn't unheard of for Noctis to ride to school with Ignis. It was basically any day that the Crown Prince could manage to slip away from Prompto--his roommate-- that happened to be an exercise nut and would drag Noctis along with him on his jog to school in the morning. So really, you couldn't blame him for tagging along on a ride to school, but it was definitely at the price of your head exploding at the thought of being so close to him. Realizing that you hadn't even greeted him, you carefully turned your head back towards him and showing a soft smile before nodding your head. "Good morning, Noctis. Sorry that you had to wait for me, too." He almost seemed hesitant, almost nervous, to reply. That couldn't be, right? He must just be having digestive problems or something, a totally valid excuse. There's no way I could have been involved in the cause of that reaction. "Good morning, (Y/N). Don't worry about it." He returned your smile before you turned back to face forward in your seat again, looking out the window and noticing that you were pretty close to school by now. 

"She most definitely _should_ worry about it. You know I do not find the utmost entertainment in nagging you, (Y/N), but please do take into account that we also have consequences for being late to class." Ignis interjected. "Yeah, he doesn't like nagging _you_ , but he sure seems to love nagging _me_." Noctis scoffed, his teasing remark not failing to leave a flustered and slightly embarrassed Ignis with pink cheeks and a frown, which didn't stop you from bursting into laughter. 

After that, it was silent the rest of the way to school. You stared out the tinted passenger window as you arrived at the university, Ignis parking in a spot relatively close to the building that you had classes in. You mentally thanked Ignis for spotting the glorious parking space, as the university was usually always too crowded to find such close parking spaces. You opened the car door and stepped out into the parking lot overwhelmed by the air, thick with the remaining humidity from the rain last night. You silently prayed to the Gods that they would have mercy on your soul and leave your hair frizz-free. 

After Noctis and Ignis had stepped out of the car, Ignis locked the doors and slightly nodded toward you both before speaking, "I've got to get to my cooking class, we will all meet here at 17:00 hours, yes?" You waved goodbye to him and slightly bowed your head to the prince. "Well, I'll see you later, then.." You mumbled towards him as you began to walk away. 

"Would you.. Would you mind if I went with you to your lecture?" Your ears perked up toward the source of that sultry voice flowing through your mind, trying to keep a calm demeanor as you turned to look at him once again. "Excuse me?" You said in a voice that could only be described as... "feigned innocence". You were sure that he could see straight through your act, that you were clearly trying not to die right in your very spot. But to your surprise, he showed no visible signs of discovering your not-so-well-kept secret. "I actually don't have class until 11, the Lucian history class that we have together. I kinda hitched a ride to escape from Prompto, he tried to make me do his "special routine" again.. I nearly lost a lung last time, _please_. No one I know is on campus around this time.." He pleaded, almost looking like a lost puppy. 

You felt your chest swell as you stared at him. He was visibly bashful as he awaited your answer, it was very unusual to have the Crown Prince acknowledging your existence, let alone asking you for help. 

"Y-Yeah... Sure."


	2. Passion

It was silent on the way to your lecture. Noctis tried his best to slow his pace so that you could lead the way, his long legs making it difficult for you to keep up sometimes. You resisted the urge to steal glances whenever he inevitably ended up walking faster than the pace your little legs could carry you. Your heart silently swooned at the sight of those gorgeous blue orbs keeping watch on you, you assumed so he wouldn’t lose sight of you or turn the wrong direction on your way to class. 

You began to think, _What if people see us together and think we’re… like ‘that’?_ Your eyes immediately darted around the hall, searching for any living soul that could mentally capture this moment. Not a single soul. _Of course…_ You shook your head, thinking of yourself as a crazy person for really wanting someone to witness the great feat of being so casual with the Crown Prince to be able to walk to class with him, even though it had been for reasons outside of your control, and had nothing to do with real friendship. 

“I-It’s not far, we’ll turn left to the staircase up there and it’s on the right” You stuttered as you struggled to make a conversation. The silence between you was deafening, you were desperate to ease the tension in your aura at least a little. He seemed relieved that you attempted to clear the air, a smile creeping up in response and nodding towards you. _Holy crap, how am I supposed to take an entire hour and a half of this. Etro, strike me down right this instant._

You clutched your bag as you approached the door to your lecture. You could hear the chatter from the room emitting into the hallway. Next to you, you could see Noctis lift his hood over his head from the corner of your eye. Probably a good idea, seeing as how it would be impossible to sneak into a class while being the most famous man not only on campus, but in the entire nation. You locked eyes when he looked back at you while nodding once, throwing a wink at you as he placed a single finger on his lips. You swear, your cheeks caught on fire. _What the hell gave him the courage to act so cheeky suddenly?! Throwing around those cute gestures like it’s nothing! I swear, Noctis Lucis Caelum, I will end you..._

Noctis gripped the handle on the door and opened it, allowing you to go in first. You might have blushed at the action, if you hadn’t known it was because he probably wanted to hide behind you the whole time. Luckily, you had managed to get there right before it was time to start class. Your professor was usually late, so you hadn’t even thought about a chance that you would’ve gotten caught. When you started to walk in, you stopped abruptly right in front of the door when your eyes landed on a currently unwelcome face..

Of all days, of course he chose to get here early. By the gods, your luck is the either the absolute worst, or they were simply just playing with you now. As you stared forward, you moved a hand behind you to stop Noctis from proceeding, a rough feeling of his black jeans against your palm when he bumped against it. You heard a quiet yelp from the man behind you and your face probably appeared like you had a sunburn by now. _W-Was that..?_ You dared to think as you quickly looked back at him. Your thoughts were confirmed when he immediately darted his eyes to the door when your eyes met for a moment, his cheeks dyed a light shade of pink. “...Follow me. Don’t look up.” You whispered to him, receiving a shy nod in response.

You began to walk into the lecture hall, briskly going up the stairs while making sure he was still behind you. _Almost there..._ You thought as you were halfway up. You could feel everyone's eyes start to gravitate towards you both as the room was no longer filled with chatter. Suddenly, of course with your luck, a familiar voice broke the sudden silence. “Excuse me, I recognize who (Y/N) is, but person behind her, could you tell me your name so I can mark you as present for the lecture?” Professor Cor’s deep voice easily boomed throughout the entire lecture hall. You quickly turned to look at Noctis as you attempted to speak up. “Professor Cor, I can explain--” 

“I apologize for disturbing you, Professor Cor. I asked (Y/N) if I could join her today because I was interested in hearing one of your famous lectures of Lucian daemons and wildlife while attempting to be incognito. If I am not allowed to be here, I will leave immediately.” You were cut off by Noctis’ words as he lifted his hood and turned around to face the professor. Cor seemed to be visibly surprised as he immediately rose to his feet and stiffened. “Y-Your Majesty! I’m sorry for calling attention to you. I… I suppose it’s fine for you to sit in for a lecture, I would be honored. Please sit.” Professor Cor stammered to the Crown Prince, earning a bow from him. “Thank you for your kindness.” Noctis replied. 

You, as well as the rest of the class, stared in awe at the exchange. While he had never been the most punctual person, he definitely would never shy away from enforcing the rules of the school as well as the nation. But, well… When it comes to a person who will literally control the nation, I assume he deserves a pass. Noctis began continuing up the stairs as he whispered up at you, “Come on, let’s go.” When he reached the same step as you, he raised a hand to softly rest against the small of your back, forcing you out of your daze and leading you further up the stairs at his side. You reminded yourself to thank the Gods later for allowing you to have physical contact not just once, but _twice_ , today with the Crown Prince. He stopped after a few steps further and you felt him gently lead you into the row where you walked down to the middle and sat down, looking up towards him while silently hoping he would sit next to you. 

To your odd luck, he continued behind you and sat down right next to you. A sigh escaped his lips as he relaxed against the back of the bench, his hands resting on his black clothed thighs. With good posture, you rested your elbows on the long table of the tiered seating, clasping your hands together. Turning to look back at him, you smiled with a hint of guilt and whispered, “I’m sorry.” Noctis looked back over at you, smiling in response. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it, I’m the one who asked you to tag along, remember?” You would’ve been satisfied with just getting those sweet words out of him if it weren’t for the _incident_ earlier by the door. You kept eye contact with him while you nodded your head a little. “Y-Yeah, but I also meant… Sorry, for earlier…” You said softly as your gaze lowered a bit to get your point across.   
Instantly, you could see Noctis visibly become nervous. His body became stiff, his breath caught in his throat for a moment and his cheeks threatened to show a familiar shade of pink. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture, copying your position of clasped hands. “I-It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.” He muttered as he stared down at Professor Cor, who had begun the lecture. You felt a smirk tugging at your lips and you fought tooth and nail with your psych to keep it hidden. You can’t believe that _you_ had just made the _Crown Prince_ nervous. 

The lecture continued to be as boring as it usually was. In all honesty, this was just an extra easy course, as it had nothing to do with your major. You had always wanted to be an official Lucian historian, due to your fascination of the recent increasing tensions between the Niflheim empire and the kingdom of Lucis within the past 10 years. So, naturally, learning about things like which daemons are immune to fire didn’t really interest you as much as if Professor Cor had done a lecture about his experiences and things he witnessed while in the Crownsguard. Regardless, you continued taking notes because you refused to become a famous historian with a record of a bad mark on your school record.

To your surprise, you noticed that Noctis was really paying attention whenever you glanced over at him. You assumed that it must’ve been a “guy thing” to be into learning about the weaknesses of wild things with the intent to kill. He suddenly turned his head to look at you. “Hey, can I borrow a pen and paper?” He asked. You blinked a few times before nodding, tearing out a page in your notebook and handing him your pen. He smiled when he immediately started scribbling letters on the lined page. “Specs will be proud of me for paying attention to something educational. This class is interesting, maybe I should come more often. Although, that would probably be pushing my luck, huh…” He whispered. You couldn’t tell if he was speaking to you or to himself. But either way, you were glad to be the person to have shared the little bubble he created with his little conversation. _Specs… Did he mean Ignis?_ I might have to use that on him one day. You almost let your gaze linger too long before you reminded yourself that you shouldn’t have been looking in the first place. 

As the lecture came to a close, he returned your pen and you put it back in your bag along with your notebook. You raised your wrist to look at the time, wiggling it a little to move the watch to face you. 10:40. _Time went by the fast, I don’t want to leave…_ You thought, looking over to the man next to you, who had been awaiting your initiative to stand and depart. You nodded over at him before grabbing the strap of your bag and resting it over your shoulder. Noctis followed your lead as you stood up, and he lead you to the end of the row before he stepped back a little, allowing you to continue walking in front of him. You swear you would’ve blushed like a mad woman if he hadn’t already nearly desensitized you of his kindness and personal attention for the day. 

After walking out of the lecture hall, neither of you said a word as he continued to walk at your side. You both had the next class together, but it wasn’t for another 20 minutes, and it was across the school grounds. Surely he didn’t want to walk all over the place and sit there alone with you in the lecture hall for 20 minutes in silence, that’d be very difficult on your heart. When you reached the courtyard, you were welcomed with the sight of at least 30 people, all sitting dispersed amongst the 7 or 8 tables over the intricate stone design on the ground. It almost felt like high school again, there were very distinct groups of people at each table. A few examples happen to be the Wizards-- who almost exclusively worked with magic and refused to take classes about anything else; Prince Noctis’ friends had they been sitting there at that moment-- A very distinct bunch (anyone on the school grounds would agree with this statement) of a scrawny uptight man in glasses, a blonde choco’bro’, and a meat head; and the Popular kids. They were also very distinct. Comprised of Lunafreya Nox Fleuret (THE most popular girl in the nation, hands down.), Iris Amicitia (Meat Head’s younger sister, who would’ve guessed) and Ravus Nox Fleuret (Queen bees brother). 

As you walked along the sidewalk close to the tables, a very high pitched “Noctiiiiiiiiiis!”was heard. It couldn’t have been anyone other than Iris, very predictable. Everyone on school grounds knew that she’d been gunning for him since birth, like some kind of fated parasite. Poor guy. You swear you heard an “oh gods” mumbled from the man next to you. He raised a hand to wave at her, but continued walking alongside you, to your relief. But not for long, as of course, Queen bee herself, waved over at him. “Noctis, you’re earlier than usual! Come sit with us.” Luna called over to him. To your dismay, he stopped this time, causing you to instinctively stop beside him. He looked over at you, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry, is it okay if I bail on you for now? We’ve still got time before our lecture, right? Thanks for earlier, I owe you one! Save a seat for me.” He apologized, sneaking in a wink before he slid behind you to go over to their table. You couldn’t even blame him. Iris, yikes, but Lunafreya. She was so gorgeous, had a perfect body, everyone loved her because she was just… so damned _nice_ . You couldn’t even properly hate her because you know even if you did, _she’d_ apologize to _you_ for it.

Well, what can you do. All you could do was accept your fate, they were destined to be, and you’re lucky that he even acknowledged you for a morning. Time to pick up your pride and head to the next lecture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again everyone~
> 
> I just want to say, thank you SO much for all of the kudos! I really didn't expect anything, so every single comment, bookmark, and kudo means so much. I truly hope that all of you enjoy this chapter and somehow understand what I'm trying to go for here LOL. Please don't hesitate to comment and share with me your thoughts and opinions, I'm a very lonely person LOL. I read everything~ 
> 
> Also, I'll try my best to update at least once weekly. I actually wrote all of this chapter within about 5 or so hours? Thursdays are officially my writing days lol.


	3. The Rain (Introduction: Prompto)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! SO sorry this took so long to get out, I have been so busy I wasn't able to even write on google drive from my phone >:O. My ideas were flowing so much, I started this chapter this morning and finished it today lol. 
> 
> By the way, the titles for the chapters (even the title of the story) is just titles of the songs that I listened to when I wrote them! LOL. I made a playlist so that you guys can listen to what I do whenever I write, if you'd like. c:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTija3AGeqlZ2oCCtXZ8xkejiJ2TFIKpD

You opened the door to your lecture hall and stepped inside. Scanning the room, you noticed there were only a few people sitting amongst the smooth wooden columned rows. You walked over to step up the stairs to a row exactly 7 steps up, like clockwork. Besides the uncharacteristically hectic morning-- so far-- you had just experienced, your life ran on your regular routines, never deterring from what you were knowledgeable and comfortable with. Those genes definitely ran in the blood of those associated with the Scientia household.

Once seated, you raised the strap of your bag from around your neck and set it beside you before resting your elbow on the wooden surface of the elongated desk and leaning your chin against your right hand that had curled into fist. You dug into your purse with your left hand for your phone, bringing it onto the desk and fiddling with it to check through Facebook, hoping to kill time. After scrolling through your news feed for a bit, you froze when a picture that Iris had posted appeared at the top of your feed when you refreshed it.

A picture of Noctis and the group that had stolen him away from you plagued your eyes, as well as your mind. _I swear… I’ve been gone 5 seconds and she already took a selfie with him._ You could tell that your eyes would burn a hole in your phone if you continued glaring, but you couldn’t stop staring at his face. You could definitely see the forced smile from Iris probably smothering him to take a picture, and it amused you more than it should’ve. Everyone held up peace signs, but Noctis seemed to wave at the camera instead. Your eyes were drawn to his gesture. His hands, his fingers…

 

“Hey! Whatcha doin’?” A voice that was all too familiar crashed into your side, along with the feeling of an arm around your shoulders. Your face flared a new shade of red when you instantly slid your finger along your phone at the speed of lightning to insure that the picture flew up as far as possible so the usual “personal space intruder” couldn’t see a single hint of what you were staring holes into. “P-Prompto! How many times have I told you to stop scaring me like that! Nearly gave me a heart attack…” Your anger dissolved into a sigh. You looked over at him to see that he was just as gorgeous as ever. His blonde hair in its same beautiful chaotic style, his white teeth flashing at you with his smile, his arm around you--- wait.

“What are you doing!” Your face returned to the previous shade of red as you shrugged and squirmed your way out of his arm, threatening to karaoke chop him to Altissia if he tried to pull any moves in front of anyone here. Your expression softened when you heard his laugh coated with velvet.

You and Prompto met a few years ago back in high school when he had thrown a surprise party for Ignis’ birthday. You had gotten a random text message from an unknown number that used way too many emojis.  
  


_“Are you Iggy’s cousin?_ (」°ロ°) _I’m sorry if this is the wrong person, Noct gave me this number, blame him._ ψ( ` ∇ ´ )ψ” __  
__  
_The name’s “Iggy” and “Noct” being used made you furrow your eyebrows at your phone, laughing at the nickname for Ignis, definitely making a mental note to use it later._ __  
__  
_“Yes, this is (Y/N), “Iggy’s” cousin. Who is this?”_ __  
_“Wow, a girl!_ ヽ(♡‿♡)ノ _Are you single?”_ __  
_“You didn’t answer my question…”_ __  
_“You didn’t answer mine.”_ __  
__  
_You stared at your phone in disbelief. Who the heck IS this? Noctis has friends like this? You couldn’t help bursting into laughter at the thought of both Ignis and Noctis hanging out with a person who seemed as crazy and scatterbrained as this. Although, it probably evens out the “serious ratio” of their group._ __  
__  
_“Would you tell me who you are or get out! I’m trying to study!”_ __  
_“I’m Prompto~ Don’t yell at me_ (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ _I’m throwing a surprise party for Iggy, his birthday’s coming up next week_ ٩(｡•́‿•̀｡)۶ _Can you come? Noct told me to invite you.”_ __  
__  
_Noctis said to invite me? Me?! You stared at your phone in disbelief once again, but in a different way than before. Your hands began to shake a little, the simple response of “Yes I’ll come” couldn’t seem to escape from your fingertips. Before you could even bring yourself to type a response, your phone had vibrated once again._ __  
__  
_“Wait! If he made me invite you… Are you.. INVOLVED with Noct?!?!_ (╬ Ò﹏Ó) _I just met you and he’s already beaten me! Why does Noct always get all the girls! It’s not fair!_ ٩(ఠ益ఠ)۶ _”_ __  
__  
_Luckily you hadn’t had any water, because if you had, you definitely would have done a remarkable spit take. You almost had the urge to get a water bottle just so you could do one. Your entire body was vibrating from your nervous laughter as you slapped a response onto the keyboard of your phone._ __  
__  
_“Asdfghjk No! He doesn’t even know I exist, you don’t have to worry._ (ノ_<。)ヾ(´ ▽ ` ) _I will be coming to the party, it’s my cousin, after all.”_ __  
__  
_After that, he regularly texted you until the day of the party. Asking you what your hobbies were, things that you liked, whether chocobos were your favorite animal or not (and with the answer of “yes”, he knew you were the one). When he finally saw you in person the day of the party, he stood cemented to his spot. He made you feel nervous with his weird stare. “W-What is it? Do I have a stain on my dress?” You stuttered, quickly looking down and checking your outfit. When you looked back up at him, all he was doing was shaking his head slowly. “I-I had no idea you’d be so attractive, I’m a little dumbfounded for the first time in my life.” Prompto laughed. Your ears perked at the sound. While he had been quite the clutz over text, in person, he was oddly graceful. The way he carried himself, the tone he addressed you with, it was all beautiful. You had taken this moment to get a good look at him, your cheeks flushing a light shade of pink. Finally returning to reality and registering the words he had just said, your eyes widened. “Y-You’re not so bad yourself..” You bashfully puffed out your cheeks after muttering the compliment, looking away while clasping your hands._

__

 

_You couldn’t see it, but there were definitely eyes on the both of you. “Hey, glad you could make it.” Your heart stopped when you heard the exquisite sound of that man’s voice, your slowly eyes moving to his face as he walked up to you. “Noct! You should’ve told me Iggy’s cousin was so pretty! I’m sure you were hiding her from me, you jerk..” Prompto pouted, sharing your gaze at Noctis. You saw a weird hint of a glare in Noctis’ stare back at Prompto. From your view, he hid a quick gesture of furrowing his eyebrows over at Prompto, before he looked back at you. “Are you well? I haven’t seen you in a while.” He flashed a smile over at you, making your heart race. You somehow managed to nod your head. “Yes, I-I’m well, thank you. I hope you have also been doing well.” You bowed a little after speaking._

 

 _Suddenly, Gladio called for Noctis to help him with the streamers. Noctis called back in response before turning to look you in the eyes, causing your cheeks to become pink. “I have, thank you. Stay away from this weirdo, okay? I “hid” you away for a reason. You’ll thank me.” He gave you the smallest, quickest hint of a wink before he walked away into the crowd of people, leaving you dumbfounded. Prompto quickly looked back and forth between you and the direction that Noctis had walked away. “No, no, no, no! He can’t do that! Did you see that? He totally did that on purpose! He’s trying to act cute to steal you away!” He waved his hands, whining a little while staring at you. You slowly moved your eyes to look over at him, your soul sucked from your body. “D-Did you say something?” You weakly responded to tease him. “AH! There it is! His evil spell worked! I’m doomed, we gotta get you outta here!” He yelled with a playful tone, grabbed your waist and pushing you towards the door as you both had burst into laughter._  
  
And after that was history.

 

While Noctis had always held your admiration and your heart, Prompto swooped right in and became this bright white light in your world that had been filled with a routine of gray. And knowing him, it was just as dramatic as he was. While you didn’t love him, you definitely couldn’t deny that as you both became closer, he creeped his way into your heart. You went on platonic “dates” that he would beg you to join him on over the years, and eventually even you began to feel the wall of ice over your heart begin to melt. He became another routine that didn’t like to be a routine, he liked to be chaotic and unexpected, to surprise you with stupid jokes or a cute note. But in doing so, his presence became one anyway. Even during this chaotic day where everything has gone off the rail, Prompto was here to remain the same as he’s always been and keep you from flying away in the unrealistic expectations of ever having a future with the Crown Prince whom constantly plagued your thoughts. Although it didn’t help that they were roommates. He would forever be around no matter how much you tried to run to Prompto to escape your infatuation.

 

“Sorry, I couldn’t help it, you looked so deep in thought~ I wanted to steal them away so you have to pay attention to me now.” Prompto said with his usual tone thick with playfulness, a short hint of his tongue sticking out at you. He turned on the bench to lean his back against you, resting the back of his head on your shoulder. “Have you seen Noctis? He ran away from me this morning when I told him I needed a workout buddy. Do you know if he’s coming to class today?” He whined, drawing random shapes onto the wooden desk with his finger tip. You sighed and resisted the urge to shrug him off of you, deciding to instead return to staring at your phone. “Last I saw, he was with Iris and Lunafreya in the courtyard.” You said nonchalantly, scrolling through your news feed. You heard Prompto sigh next to you. He always got antsy when he had no one to bother.  
  
As it became closer to 11, more people began to file into the room, filling the rows. “Noct, there you are!” Your head quickly raised from your phone to look at the receiver of Prompto’s words, only to discover there was no Noctis in sight. “Gotcha.” Prompto laughed as he prodded your side with his elbow. You glared at him from the side of your eyes before returning to your phone, refusing to look up ever again no matter what. And while your head was down, speak of the devil, Noctis had walked in right after.

 

Noctis looked up to notice that Prompto was already sitting next to you. He mentally cursed Iris and Luna for dragging him away for so long. If he had rejected them, surely it would have looked weird if he stayed with you for too long. Prompto stuck his tongue out at the Crown Prince as he looked up at him from the base floor. He glared up at Prompto the entire time he walked up the stairs, stopping at your row and walking over to you.

 

“Hey, is it okay if I sit here?” Noctis asked. You looked up at him with wide eyes and blinked, slowly nodding. He sat down next to you, making you feel sandwiched from how close both men were to you. _Why is he here… Usually he sits in the front… What the heck is going on today?!_ Your brain was going through an internal crisis trying to figure out what must have been in the tap water to cause everyone to go batty today. “Sorry, I figured why not continue bothering you for the day, but it seems like Prompto has beaten me to it for this class.” He grinned and stuck his tongue out at Prompto, who happened to be leaning forward to stare at him passed you.  
  
You cleared your throat and carefully turned towards Noctis to shuffle through your bag that happened to be squished between both of your sides, managing to grab out 2 notebooks and 2 pens before placing them on the desk. Prompto perked up in his seat at the sight of you placing the second notebook and pen in front of him. Your cheeks began to turn red in reaction to him staring at you with a triumphant smile on his face. “Y-You always forget your stuff, so..” You mumbled. “Oh!” You had remembered that Noctis had also forgotten his belongings today. You tore a few pieces of paper from your notebook and placed it in front of him. “I don’t have another pen, so just let me know when you want to write something and I’ll let you use mine, okay?” You told him, earning a nod in response. Noctis seemed to be caught by surprise, but quickly shot an innocent smile over at Prompto.

You began to notice their constant exchanges, and wondered if they were tag teaming you on purpose. Maybe Noctis came this morning on purpose to mess with you, to make you think he was beginning to care. But Prompto wouldn’t do anything to mess with your feelings like that, would he? _Impossible._ You shooed those thoughts away and decided to just blame Noctis for being weird. Prompto was always weird. Noctis was the only one acting _unusually_ weird today.

 

Just then, Professor Cid arrived through the door. All the chatter in the room dimmed to a silence as he walked to his desk, putting his belongings down and walking to the center of the room. “I have an announcement.” His voice roared through the room without him having to raise it in any way. Everyone seemed to straighten in their seats, listening for something bizarre or terrible to come from the professors mouth. It was very rare whenever Professor Cid would go out of character and talk about anything other than what the lecture called for.

“The Lucian History club has arranged a class trip to Altissia for the Halloween festival and have asked me to extend the invite to solely this class. Usually we do not do these sorts of things, but seeing as how you have all been working very hard for exams, it would be good for you all to go out and relax for once. It has nothing to do with the class subject itself as I will not be going, so you have no educational obligation to attend.” The professor explained.

The entire room seemed to be in shock. You, Noctis, and Prompto were as equally surprised as the rest of the class. You all exchanged looks before cheers filled the room. It had been ages since you last went to Altissia. You were so little you don't even remember what it was like. A girl in the first row stood up and shuffled over to where Cid was standing. “Hi guys! As you've heard, we're arranging a trip! Luckily it’s got nothing to do with the school, so there’s really no rules other than to not be.. _‘obnoxious_ ’.” She looked around the room suspiciously as she said the last word, but returned to her ‘flailing of the arms’ and big smile. “I’m putting a sign-up sheet here, please put your full name and number so we can add you to a group chat where we can discuss everything!”

 

Noctis and Prompto exchanged looks across you, causing you to look back and forth between them. “Are we going or what? Sounds fun!” Prompto said with the biggest grin on his face. You returned his smile and nodded. “I want to, let’s go! Noctis?” You turned your head to look over at him. He looked directly into your eyes, causing your stomach to go crazy. You blinked back at him with flushed cheeks-- waiting for a response-- before receiving a smile and a nod.

  
After the lecture ended, you all walked down the rows to the front of the lecture hall to print your names and numbers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another note~ I'm SO sorry if this chapter seems a little uncharacteristic. This is actually the direction I wanted to go with this story when I first thought of it, but then I thought "nooo people will just want Noct" so I ended up making Prompto a fill in character at the start, but I decided today YOU KNOW WHAT I WANT THIS SO I'M DOING IT THE WAY I ORIGINALLY PLANNED. But now my problem is, and I REALLY would like everyones input on this because you guys are my driving force, would you guys want a SINGLE couple or the three of them together? And smut or not? I genuinely can't decide either way lol Half of me is just thinking "write a second story with PWP for your crazy noct/prompto threesome desires" lmao. Thanks for reading guys! I tried to make this one a lot longer to make up for my lack of presence lol


	4. I think I'm in love with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm soooo sorry this took so long!  
> I'm so sorry if there are any errors, I vaguely skimmed this but I just wanted to get this damn thing out so I don't have to worry about it anymore! lol kms
> 
> I'm feeling super insecure about my writing abilities, especially in this chapter, so I truly hope you guys can find some sort of entertainment from this lol

_You had danced all night. You wore a red dress with gems that sparkled under the various multi-colored lights beaming down in the club. The beat wasn't the only thing you felt in your heart as you refused to tear your eyes away from the man that was your date tonight, as he had been for quite a few nights now. His gaze, his laugh, his whispering into your ear. He took your breath away. And by the end of the night, quite literally._

 

_Smeared lipstick, hot panting, pressed against a wall praying Etro would look away from the both of you for the moment was how you found yourself on this night. There was a fervor in what he did tonight. He was eager. Before, he was always gentle, asking permission for every little thing, constantly needing reassurance for his actions. But tonight, he was tired of wasting precious time together. “How do we always get like this?” You softly laughed against his lips when you both finally parted to take a short break from the heated session. His eyes met yours, his smile forming from his lips and lighting up his entire face. “Fate, maybe?” He gently rubbed his nose against yours before speaking again. “Or maybe it's just the look of you in red that gets me going.”_

 

_You swore that if you had been awake your face would have become the color of a tomato. Ahh, what a good dream… You thought. Although it had been weird that you had encountered this man so many times in what seemed like an impossible number of recurring-- yet different each time-- dreams, it brought you comfort knowing this man and not having to feel nervous around him._

 

_You opened your mouth to speak when--_

 

“...is calling you, so answer your phone!”

 

_...Huh?_

 

“(Y/N)! Your prince is calling you, so answer your phone!” A very familiar ringtone pierced the air, causing you to gasp as your eyes snapped open. It was like you were underwater this whole time, and the familiar voice of someone that gave you comfort had lifted you from the depths to breathe again. You forced yourself to move, but all that sufficed was a sluggish pace in your newly awakened state, grabbing your phone and clicking ‘answer’. “Hello? Prom, it's sunday what are you doing waking me up so early.” You groaned into the phone.

 

“I'm almost at your apartment~ Get up and unlock your door, then you can go back to bed, sleepy.” You blinked multiple times before the words were processed, earning an additional ‘hurry up!’ from the man on the phone before he hung up. You glanced over at your clock as you put your phone back down on your nightstand. 9:46. Groaning, you lifted yourself up into a sitting position, rubbing your eyes as you stood up. You then realized that you probably looked like a flustered train wreck, so you briskly walked from your room to the front door to unlock it, and then nervously sprinted back to your room, closing the door behind you. Heaving a sigh, you walked to your bathroom to shower, removing articles of clothing along the way.

 

The hot water soothed your skin as you yawned. _I feel so sluggish… Like I didn't sleep at all._ Your thoughts whined as you massaged shampoo into your hair. By now, you could only remember very few aspects of the events that happened in your dream, and it bothered you. It happened every day. Your heart always told you that the memories were still vivid in some part of your subconscious, but as soon as the sun rose, they always became dim. You finished up your rinsing and turned off the water.

 

You dried your hair with a small gentle towel after you put on a black T-shirt and a pair of blue smooth, loose shorts that you usually would wear to the gym, later brushing your hair out as you looked in the mirror. _I don't think I need makeup today, it's a weekend for Etro’s sake._ You nodded as you assessed your appearance. With a faint click, you heard the front door open and close. Quickly deciding to leave your hair down, you shuffled over to your door, pressing your ear against it. You heard the person on the other side walking around the living room. The sound of keys hitting the kitchen counter was heard, then more walking, and then finally the sound of a person falling on the couch. Out of nowhere, you felt your heart begin to race as your nervousness boiled in your chest.

 

Prompto being at your house wasn't necessarily a new thing, but after the series of dreams you've been having, your feelings seemed to be tumbling around in your heart. You couldn't tell what was real or what was fake, your feelings included. You know you liked and desired Prompto, but you couldn't tell if those feelings were being amplified by the man in your dreams. _Am I just.. desiring something that intense when I'm awake?_ Genuinely considering the probability of the matter, you began to pace around your room in thought. Then it occurred to you that one of the men in question was still in your living room awaiting your arrival as you heard a TV being turned on outside your door.

 

You scrambled around your room in panic before running to your bathroom to check your appearance one last time. Sighing, you fixed your hair a bit and walked back to your door. When you palm met the doorknob, you swallowed audibly. _Stop being such a scaredy cat, he's been here before, nothing is different!_ You yelled at yourself. _Etro save me…_

 

As you opened the door, the sound of a familiar commercial filled the room. “Come on down, fellas! Bring your car here and we'll get it back in gear~ Only at Hammerhead!” The piercing voice of Cindy streamed from the television. “Ahh, I want to go to Hammerhead~” You rolled your eyes at the sight of Prompto whining and staring intently at the TV. When he noticed you'd come out, he quickly looked over at you and smiled brightly, leaning back against the couch and patting the place next to him before resting his arm up on the edge of the couch. You tried to distract yourself to keep the heat from rising to your cheeks as you walked across the living room toward him. You stiffly sat next to him, your nerves sending electricity from your toes to your head. He seemed to notice this, as he raised an eyebrow at your actions before he wrapped his arm around your shoulders. “What's up? Did I really get you that mad by waking you up early?” Prompto studied your face for a reaction.

 

His words made you feel guilty for acting awkwardly towards him. The last thing you would want to do is offend him or make him feel unwanted. _Stop acting like this, just be happy and go with the flow, you crazy woman… Etro, help us all._ The thoughts inside your head yelled at you, almost causing you to scrunch up your nose and adopt a glare. Closing your eyes, you sighed and leaned your weight against Prompto. At the feel of him curling his arm closer around you, heat rose to your cheeks as your voice came out only in a whisper, “I'm sorry, Prom… Life has been kind of weird lately.”

 

Prompto crossed one leg over the over and lounged back against the couch with you still in the embrace of his right arm. “Well, then you should've told me that in the first place, you weirdo.” He let out a scoff in a playful tone as you stuck your tongue out at him. Then, he randomly froze. It was almost as if you could physically see the animation of gears turning above his head, like in those games he loves to play. Suddenly, he turned himself toward you and grabbed you by your shoulders, earning an honest “deer in the headlights” expression from you. “Wait! Is this because Noct sat next to you in class! That sly dog…” He let go of you to rub his chin while scrunching up his nose, while you were still frozen staring at him.

 

“What does that me--”

 

It felt like it happened within a split second. Just as he had interrupted you from speaking in your dreams, he had interrupted your words by cupping your cheeks and pressing his lips against yours. You could feel your face explode to the shade of a tomato, like you had a painful sunburn. You had kissed Promto before, but it was a moment when you both were extremely intoxicated. He was always flirtatious and forward with his actions with you, but never daring enough to physically do anything more than cuddling or hugs. After years of being curious of it, this was your first real kiss with Prompto. It sent your mind tumbling out the door at the speed of light and back again, just barely reattaching itself to your head. Your subconscious had its hands tightly clung to your soul, desperately keeping it from leaving your body.

 

This gorgeously evil incubus emoji-abusing dork had his claws deep, and you didn't even fully realize it until he had just solidified his position.

 

Prompto seemed to get anxious from your lack of reaction, he slowly pulled back and studied your face. Your insides calmed down as you stared at him for a moment before swallowing your nervousness and diving at him. Catching him off guard as he had done to you, you pressed your lips against his and wrapped your arms around his neck. He responded positively by embracing you and moving his lips against yours, setting off fireworks in your stomach. He lightly nudged you with his body, urging you to lay your back on the couch. You obeyed, both of you rearranging yourselves so that he was on top of you without breaking the heated kiss. He pulled back as you tried to catch your breath, looking down at you. You noticed his cheeks turned a cute shade of pink as he nervously looked away for a moment to collect himself.

 

“I-I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. If Noct can stir your heart up so intensely, I want to do it, too.” He stuttered. _The_ Prompto, the flirtatious sex god that you had known so well, was lying here on top of you a nervous wreck. It made you want him more. You wanted so dearly to know what made this man, the man who was always overshadowed by the one he always accompanied, tick. He was the only man in your waking life that could calm your nerves and make you feel completely safe, and you wanted to be that safe place for him, too. You smiled brightly up at him before laughing, “While you're over there in your thoughts, you're losing quite a bit of daytime to kiss me, sir.” Prompto laughed at your teasing, playfully rolling his eyes and leaning his body against yours to bite your bottom lip.  

 

You sighed at the feel of his lips being returned to yours. Your hands slid up his arms, your fingertips sliding along each and every contour and groove of his muscles before settling one hand over his shoulder and the other tracing up his face to entangle your fingers within his blonde locks. He softly moaned against your lips at the feel of your caress, causing your cheeks to heat up. _Has it been a while for him? Maybe…_ Your once innocent mind was yet again set on fire. He snaked a hand down to your leg, his fingers gently gripping at your thigh. A soft mewl escaped your lips as he trailed kisses from your jaw to your neck. “You picked a bad day to showcase your legs to me.” He chuckled against your skin, sending shivers down your spine.

 

You squirmed under his touch as his fingertips began to glide along your inner thigh, threatening to feel your warmth through your shorts. His teeth nibbled at the skin of your collarbone while you gently pulled on his hair, silently begging him for more. A soft exhale was heard from the man above you when his hand finally found its place between your legs. His long fingers trailed up and down your sensitive spot over your shorts. He used his other hand to slide your Tshirt up to rest above your chest so he could move his kisses down to the rest of your flesh. With pink cheeks and a flustered expression, you arched your back impatiently against him and whined softly when---

 

A very sparkly sounding ringtone pierced the air of the living room, causing you both to jump at the sound. Realizing what it was, Prompto let out an audible, very frustrated, groan. You couldn't help but look around in disbelief as you watched him get up and pick up his phone. You looked down at yourself, seeing your Tshirt still halfway up your stomach before you quickly pushed it down as you blushed brightly. Any sign of confidence and relaxation from just a moment ago had completely disappeared, and you were now clutching at your chest in hopes to keep yourself from having a heart attack. _Prompto… I--... He--... What in Etro’s name is going ON this week? Has someone spiked our meals?_

 

The one-sided conversation going on next to you dragged you away from your thoughts. Prompto had walked away to your bedroom, but the door was left slightly ajar, allowing a small volume of sound to slip through. You very much wanted to go against the idea, but you couldn't help ‘innocently’ hopping across the couch to hear better without raising suspicion.

 

“You know I've been waiting for this for years and you _just so happen_ to call right in the middle? This was my chance, dude! I was gonna do THE THING!” The sound of Prompto’s frustration couldn't be blocked by a mere door. You wanted to sit there and debate what the hell that could have meant but decided not to yet when you heard him sigh.

 

“Alright, alright. I trust you, we got this. Anyway, what the hell did you call about? If you forgot to remind me about another quest event, I'm going to delete all of your legendaries while you sleep tonight.

...Costume shopping? Alright. Okay. Okay. You're starting to sound like Iggy, please stop making me say ‘okay’. We'll see you there.”

 

Hearing his last words, you scrambled back to your original position and stared down at your hands. _What the hell did he mean by ‘the thing’? I'm going to beat him up la--_

 

“(Y/N)! Since the Halloween festival is next weekend, let's go costume shopping! Noct personally invited us, how fancy~ You can't say no!” The Prompto that you knew and loved had returned despite the previous phone call, bursting into the room with his persona in full blast to make up for lost time. You couldn't help but laugh at him, his aura was just so cute you could giggle at anything he wanted you to. He caught you by surprise when he unhesitantly walked straight towards you and bent over the back of the couch to cup your cheeks before pressing his lips against yours. You both lingered there for a moment before he backed away a bit to look at your face. “We’ll find the right moment again later, okay?” You couldn't help but smile at his words, nodding and smiling up at him.

 

Prompto reached a hand out to assist you in getting up from the couch, his hand not letting go after you were on your feet. It almost made you self conscious to be standing there in silence holding hands with a boy, but you knew that Prompto was someone that you could never feel awkward with. You looked down at your clothes and wondered if this was good enough to be seen in accompanying the Crown Prince. Looking back up at Prompto, you frowned slightly. “Should I change? I've never gone out in public with the Prince other than school, I don't know what to wear…” You mumbled, your frown turning into more of a childish pout. The man in front of you rolled his eyes as he began to laugh, shaking his head. “That guy would accept you no matter what you're wearing, I think that should be enough, yeah?” His response left you quite bewildered and your mind filled to the brim with even more questions in addition to the phone call conversation. He began walking towards the counter to pick up his keys.

 

 _“Accept me?” Now what does THAT mean? These boys, I swear. Etro, I'm telling you lady, wherever you are, you better stop me now._ Your thoughts were cut off by Prompto turned around to address you again, “Oh, and don't talk to him like he's all prince-y or anything like that. He doesn't like it when it's people he's close to.” You nodded intently over at him, but your thoughts once again formed more questions. _People he's close to? Do I really count? Well, I guess we've known each other for a long time, but…_

 

“Stop overthinking everything, let's go~” Prompto cooed, holding a hand out to you once again. You blushed lightly before accepting his hand, the both of you walking toward your front door and putting on shoes before you grabbed your keys. He opened the door for you before you both walked outside, turning around to lock the door. “I rode my motorcycle here, I hope you aren't terrified of it anymore.” He looked over at you with an eyebrow raised. The truth was, you weren't afraid of it. You had just always been nervous to be so close to Prompto, and you couldn't avoid it on the motorcycle because your life had literally depended on it. After what had gone on in the living room, you assumed that you should be less nervous now, but despite what you told yourself, you could still feel all of the heat in your body rising to your face. _I knew I should've worn foundation today. Now my stupid face is going to be red all day. Damn it._ Your thoughts cursed.

 

“I-it's fine! Don't worry about me!” You insisted, although his eyes still lingered in suspicion for more than a moment before finally turning towards the shiny black motorcycle. He mounted it, carefully gaining his balance over it, before holding a hand out to you. He helped you keep your balance as you got on behind him, your arms hesitantly finding their way around his waist.

 

“You okay?” He asked, looking back at you with a concerned expression. “Y-Yeah, don't worry.” Your response seemed good enough an answer as he had already started the engine, a roar coming from the bike under you. You let out a squeak as soon as the motorcycle started accelerating and you clung to his back purely out of reflex, but you were too worried for your life to freak out over being so intimately close with this man yet again. Gradually, the warmth emanating from his body began to lull your nerves. Your eyes that had been squeezed shut slowly found themselves open to see the Crown city of Insomnia zoom past you. In the short distance, you could see the Citadel, and if you looked up you were sure you would be able to see the shield in the sky covering the city glimmer in the bright noon sunlight.

 

You relaxed your death grip on Prompto’s waist so you could straighten your back to take in the view of the beautiful city around you. Halloween decorations could be seen on the windows of most small shops that you sped by. The wind blew strong on the motorcycle, causing your hair to go slightly haywire as you examined the streets. You saw people walking along the sidewalks in front of businesses, some even waving to each other or closely interacting. You had never really taken time to truly appreciate the beauty of the city you called home, everything seemed to hit you all at once and you didn't notice the childish smile plastered on your face.

 

The motorcycle slowed to a stop at the newly red streetlight. Prompto glanced back at you with a pure expression of curiosity. “Are you feeling alright? We're almost there.” Your face beamed as you tore your eyes away from the buildings around you to look back at him, catching him off guard. “I'm okay! Everything’s so pretty at this time of day!” You laughed, not noticing the blush that had crossed Prompto’s cheeks at the sight of you so happy. He quickly turned around to see that the light had turned green, and you both went back on your way to the costume shop.

 

You arrived shortly after, letting out a long, relaxed exhale as you carefully slid off the bike. _Oh crap, my hair._ You realized, quickly trying to straighten out any possible knots.

 

“I thought you guys would never get here. Did you guys continue messing around even after I called, being the desperately lonely man that I am? Ah, the world can be so cruel~” The overly sarcastic tone came suddenly from behind you, causing you to jump. A burst of laughter was heard from Prompto in response who had already walked passed you towards the man in question, none other than the Crown Prince,  Noctis. “Put a sock in it, there was traffic. Don't make me call Iggy to drag you away~. And besides, we finished before you called~ Oh, I'm so excited to look at costumes!” Prompto ran off skipping towards the store in victory, leaving you terrified to turn around to face Noctis as you were absolutely positive that your embarrassment was plain as day on your face. _T-That kid… In front of Noctis…_ Your fists were clenched and you were glaring at the motorcycle in front of you when you heard the man behind you clear his throat.

 

“It seems he's ditched us. Walk with me?” Noctis asked, his head tilting to the side as you turned around to face him. You shyly nodded, following his lead after he had begun walking towards the store. Prompto could be seen entering the store with a stupid grin on his face across from the parking lot as you crossed your arms while walking. Sneaking small glances over at Noctis, you wondered if he believed what Prompto said, and if it had changed any opinion he could have had of you. It made your stomach perform somersaults. You liked Prompto of course, but you didn't know how you felt about him broadcasting news of your intimacy, false or not, to the man you'd fallen in love with at first sight as a child.

 

“W-We didn't do anything.” You blurted out, your cheeks heating up in embarrassment. The man next to you looked over at you for a moment before turning his head forward again.

 

“Did you want to?” Noctis spoke without trying to look for your reaction. You were caught off guard by the question, your eyes widened for a moment before you looked down at the stone under your feet as you both walked closer and closer to the store. “That's a cruel question…” You muttered, your eyes not leaving your feet. Noctis cocked an eyebrow before he let out what sounded like a sigh. “Hmph. I'm jealous.” He said nonchalantly before quickening his pace without another word to open the door to the shop, holding it open for you to walk in before him.

 

And for the millionth time this week, your mind blew up once again.

 

_Jealous? What could he be jealous about?_

 

_Me wanting to be with Pro-- is he gay? Is that why he's never had a girlfriend, but is ALWAYS with Prompto?_

 

_Oh my god._

 

You tried your best not to make it visibly apparent of how shook you were, you thanked the gods that you weren't a nail-bitter because if you had been, you would definitely look suspicious right now. Your body went on auto-pilot, following Noctis wherever he went throughout the store as your mind raced in circles. _Did I steal my crush’s crush? What the fuck._ You weren’t one to curse very often, but what the fuck.

 

A hand touched your back, the shock making you let out a scream as your soul jumped from your body. “W-Whoa, sorry!” Prompto’s familiar voice rang behind you, your scream scaring him as well. You held your chest as your head whipped in his direction. He became visibly submissive in reaction to your stare, holding his hands up in front of his chest and laughing nervously. “I-I just wanted to know if you had picked anything out yet!” You expression, as well as your tense shoulders you'd noticed, relaxed at his question. Your eyes scanned the room for the first time, realizing there were racks of costumes all around you. “Ah-- No, I haven't looked yet.” You admitted, your eyes catching on a black dress across the room. Prompto gently grabbed your hand and started leading you towards the rack where you saw the black dress, coincidentally. “Noctis and I had an idea for all of us to do video game characters together! Pretty cool, huh? Would you wanna do it with us?” He smiled brightly and seemed to have memorized the expressions he could make that would always make it impossible for you to go against him.

 

“Y-Yeah, sure. But I like this one.” You said softly, scared to disappoint him, as you pointed at the black dress. He followed your finger to the direction of the black dress before he made some unknown kind of enthusiastic typical Prompto gesture. “That's it! That's 2B!” He said with a giddy expression, drawing the attention of Noctis, who had just walked out of the dressing room in a costume of some kind of fancy attire. “2B?” You asked before your eyes were drawn to Noctis. The long-sleeved dress shirt and tight black pants were like a dream come true on him. Had you been someone that drools, you probably could have done that in this moment. His eyes met yours and you could swear you saw his features adopt a very cheeky smirk, it made you want to punch it. With your lips. You shook your head and tried to tune into the lore that Prompto was dishing out about the costume. “It's a main character in that new game we've been playing! Noct and I are gonna do Adam and Eve, so we wanted you to do 2B! Ahh~ to see you in her costume would definitely be a nerds wet dream.” Prompto sighed, his eyes not intently staring at anything but air as he became lost in thought.

 

He was interrupted by a clap on the back by Noctis as the latter laughed. “Easy there, buddy. She hasn't even decided on it yet.” Noctis looked over at you and smiled, an expression that very loudly asked ‘ _So are you doing it, or are you doing it?’._ You sighed. Luckily you wanted to see it anyway. Prompto had gone to find his size and so you started moving clothes in an attempt to find yours in the dress. You picked the hanger holding the dress up, a note on the tag of it saying “Dress, body suit and accessories included! 13500gil.”. You gasped at the price and immediately put the dress back on the rack, shaking your head long enough to have Noctis earnest questioning your actions. “What's wrong? You don't like it?” He asked, your head continuing to shake. “Nope, nope, nope, nope. It's way too expensive, I can't do it. That would make the Altissia trip way too expensive.” You sighed, but Noctis smiled softly and shook his head. “It's okay, I've got it. Oh, and didn't Prompto tell you? I've already rented out a room in Altissia for the trip, it's got 2 king sized beds, if you wouldn't mind joining us. We can just make him sleep on the floor.” He laughed, his genuine smile confused you.

 

 _Isn't he mad at me for stealing Prom from him? Why would he invite me to stay with them? Is he trying to keep his enemy closest?!?_ “I-- That's… That's way too much, I'm sorry…” You stuttered, not knowing what to say. A playful smirk returned to Noctis’ lips before he raised an eyebrow at you. “You're going to reject my kindness? Do you dislike me that much, (Y/N)?” The way he used his velvet coated voice to say your name made you disregard all of his previous sarcasm in that statement. But, you couldn't keep questioning everything any longer, you wanted at least _one_ answer today. You resisted the screaming urge to stare at your feet and instead made eye contact with the gorgeous cerulean orbs in front of you. “Why are you being so nice to me all of the sudden?”

 

He had not expected to have to answer a question like that from you so soon into his plans, but he kept a calm composure. He thanked the stars that Prompto had always been with him every step of the way, and today was no different. As if on some magical cue, Prompto returned to the aisle with a costume in his arms. “Did you find your size, (Y/N)? Noct, go change out of yours already, I'm getting hungry.”

 

You kept your stare on Noctis, refusing to leave it without an answer, but Prompto had made it difficult. He was now looking between the both of you as if there was a tennis match happening in front of him. “Did I… Miss something?” He asked, tilting his head. Before you could respond with a quick, ‘No.’, Noctis had already spoken up. “(Y/N) had just found her size and agreed to sharing a room with us this weekend. Right? Ahh, I've got to go change now~” He stated before turning toward the dressing rooms. Anything Prompto could have said was already tuned out as your pride flared throughout your body. But it had all melted away when, as if in slow motion, Noctis turned his head to stick his tongue out at you before he disappeared into a changing room. “Come on~ He’ll be out soon so we can go wait for him up there.” Prompto said, gently grabbing your hand and dragging you up to the register with him, super expensive 2B costume in your other.

 

You sighed in defeat and placed your costume on the counter next to his. “I wonder what I feel like eating today~” Prompto hummed by your side.

 

_These men are going to be the death of me._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote the chapter that's being released after this one first, then decided "Aw heck, that's too fast, I gotta make up something to go before that" and well, this chapter took me over a week of constant dipping into every day. I'm really sorry if you guys don't like it. I'm kind of really scared of that the most fml.
> 
> But, as you might have seen, we are gradually getting the feel of the men in these stories~ I genuinely hope that this story will keep you guys occupied while all the good NoctisxReader writers are away! I'm seriously so bummed that no one is updating their stories right now. Everyone, we're all suffering together. TT
> 
> Also, since 80-90% of the next chapter is already written, it will NOT be taking me another two weeks to update ^^
> 
> ALSO AAAAA thank you all SO much for 100 kudos and 1000 hits! I'm seriously so thankful. I'm sorry I talk so much, I'm so heckin lonely KMS.


	5. Yume

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so short! I wanted to make this longer so I've left it unposted for 3 months but it unknowingly gave me writers block lol. 
> 
> Maybe after posting this I'll regain motivation to write this story

_He was so polite all evening. He invited you to a date on the beach, a quiet dinner table arranged just for you. He pulled out your chair for you, he kept eye contact, he never let the conversation become awkward or silent. Your heart was swollen with affection, you felt safe with him.  
When the dinner was over, he raised from his seat and extended a hand to you. Smiling up at him, you placed your hand on his, standing up from your seat. The beach sunset faded to a twilight and the sky soon darkened to fill with stars. You felt like a princess, wearing a beautiful red dress that was tight fitting at the waist but managed to fan out and flow with the wind passed your hips. _

_He held your waist firmly as you walked together, causing heat to rise to your cheeks. He opened the door to the Galdin Quay hotel and you looked around the room in awe. Before you had the chance to take another step after hearing the door close behind you, you were shoved against the wall and bombarded by lips pressed against your own._

_You didn't have time to be shocked, your body was already melting against his. Bitten lips, tongue slips, your minds gone wild. When he pulled away, you looked up at him with swollen lips as you attempted to catch your breath. He began to adopt a shy persona as he realized how far he'd gotten ahead of himself. “I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.” He laughed as he carefully backed away a few inches. “We've been interrupted in the middle every night since the first time we've tried.. I didn't want to waste time.” Hearing this, you stared at him without a response, causing him to worry of a possible rejection._

_“Is this not what you want? I'm so-”_  
“This is a dream.” You spoke out loud.  
“Y-Yes, I'm pretty sure.” He responded.  
“A very reoccurring dream.” You continued. 

_He blinked in response, tilting his head as he tried to figure out what was going on in your head. You began to pace the room for a moment before stopping by the bed. “Do you… Well, are you… Are you just a figment of my imagination? Oh god, why am I even saying this, it's just a dream.” You huffed, crossing your arms and looking around the room. Suddenly, you felt his demeanor change. The air in the room was suddenly tense. “Imagination? I could ask you the same thing. How could someone in my dream talk to me like this, someone must have spiked my drink tonight.” He scoffed, rubbing the bridge of his nose._

_Your head flew in his direction, your eyes narrowing. “What the heck are you talking about? This is MY dream. You're not allowed to argue with me. I'll just have to… to think really hard, or something… and we can just go back to before!” You crossed your arms, a pout formed from your lips._

_He couldn't help but let out a laugh, shaking his head. “I assure you, this is not your dream alone, I'm not just some ‘figment of your imagination’ that you can control with a mere thought, or even a word.” He said as he leaned against the wall. It took you quite a moment to process this. You took a step forward, looking at him intently. “Do you know who I am?” You asked, your eyes glued to his face, studying his expressions. He nodded. “You're (Y/N), the girl who loves to steal my dreams apparently.” He laughed, playfully rolling his eyes. He stopped to exchange your stare before raising an eyebrow. “Do you know who I am?” He questioned, causing you to shyly look away. “I forget your face every time I wake up, so there's no point in me revealing what I know right now, I'll just forget it. But I still remember all of the nights we've done this. I wake up very… flustered, to say the least.” You looked down to hide your red cheeks, wondering why you would reveal that when there could be a serious possibility this could be a real person._

_A thought popped into your head. You raised your head to look at him again. “Can you reveal yourself to me? Prove to me that you're real?” You asked, your nerves threatening to shake your voice. His eyebrows raised in surprise at your question. He thought about it for a moment before taking a few steps forward, closing the distance between you. “And how would you like me to do that?” His face was dangerously close. Your cheeks exploded with color, but you refused to look away. “In person. You remember who I am when you wake up, right? Come… Come to me in person.” You used all of your effort to keep your words steady, earning an amused smirk from the man in front of you._

_“It seems that I have the upper hand here.” He said, his voice saturated in a teasing tone. He gracefully spun around and took a few steps forward before looking back at you. You narrowed your eyes as you watched his movements. “I know who you are, in fact I have been given the pleasure to know all about you.” You wanted to smack that smirk right off his face. His very sweet face. You also cursed yourself for wanting to slap someone who had made you feel so whole just 10 minutes, or however long time was in this weird dream world, before. You flinched when he returned to your personal space bubble. “I know what makes your body tick. What makes you laugh, what makes you whine, what makes you squirm.” He slid his hand farther up your waist as he said every word, resting his palm against your cheek. “Will you really be ready for me to reveal myself now?” Your lips parted in preparation to voice a response, but were interrupted by his thumb. “But at the same time, I don't think I'm ready either. I'm not ready to encounter this in the real world. I don't want you to be disappointed when you see who I am.” His gaze faltered for a moment at the end of his statement, making you uneasy._

_You bit the inside of your lip as your mind attempted to formulate a response. You wanted to reassure him. You didn't want someone so gentle, yet firm, to slip from your fingers. If you could really live your life in the arms of this person, you wouldn't mind. You were satisfied enough being locked in your own mind with this person, being able to hide him from the world in your own private escape. “I really like you. Seeing your face and knowing who you are now as we are in this space together, I like you. Even though I will forget when the sun comes up, I know that I will still like you when I know it is you. When it's really you.” You couldn't help looking down nervously as you talked, but you made sure to look into his eyes before the end._

_At the sight of him forming a smile, you straightened your posture. He walked over to you and cupped your cheeks to place a soft kiss on your lips. “We’ll get there. For now, let's relax, we've been here a while. We'll probably wake up soon.” He grabbed your hands and walked you both to the bed, holding an arm out to gesture you to lay down first. You obeyed, sitting down on its surface and laying down on your side as you watched him walk to the other end. He laid down beside you, pulling you into an embrace, playfully rubbing his nose against yours. You gave him a smile that reached your eyes. “Until next time.” He whispered before he closed his eyes. That was the last thing you saw before.._

Sunlight streamed through your window as your newly refreshed eyes scanned the room. You rubbed the sleep from your eyes and stretched out your arms, lazily dropping them back at your sides over your duvet. You turned your head to look at the clock. 11:47. Today, you didn't have class until 2. You rose to a sitting position, sighing and reaching for your phone. 2 new messages. The first, from Ignis:

“I will be at your home to escort you to the university at 13:35. Please do not be late, as I also have class at 14:00.” 

The second, from Prompto:

“(Y/N)~ The Altissia trip is this weekend! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ Can't wait to see your costume in action ٩( 'ω' )و”

Your cheeks caught on fire and your head exploded thinking of the last time you saw him over the weekend. The feel of his fingers, his lips.. still lingered on your skin. Before you could respond, your phone vibrated to show yet another message from the mischievous blonde. 

“Pervert. You're thinking of something dirty, aren't you? Share it with me. (๑･̑◡･̑๑)”

“Of course not, you butt. I'll see you in class, don't be late. And don't forget your notebook! I'm not bringing an extra one~ ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ”

“How could I be late? I’d never miss a chance to see you★”

While reading his message, you bit your lip. You almost felt like you couldn't wait only a few hours to see him. You couldn't help it, your body ached for his touch. He had given you a taste and you wanted more. You had never been very sexually active in the past, even with Prompto. He never failed to tease you over and over again, but never had he gone _that_ far. You weren't a virgin, but you wanted to know what everything in the category felt like, wanted to know what _he_ felt like. And in that moment of thinking about Prompto, Noctis flew straight in and crashed your thoughts. What would _he_ feel like? What would both of them at once feel like? It sent shivers down your spine. You would definitely have to look up videos on the subject later.

But for now, bathroom. You hated how you always have to pee after waking up. While on the toilet, you fiddled with your phone before you lingered on Ignis’ text message. You chewed on the inside of your cheek as you typed a message.

“Iggy, is it possible for people to share a dream? Like… even talk to each other in it?” 

You looked at the time on your phone. 12:03. You knew you should get in the shower immediately, but the desire for an answer had you slowly pacing in your bathroom. A few minutes later, you unlocked your phone as soon as you felt a vibration.

“I would not rule out the possibility. Would you like me to research it further?” 

You smiled after reading response. Having a helpful cousin with access to the royal library is always useful. 

“Please! Thank you. See you at 1:35 sharp! ٩( 'ω' )و” You responded before putting your phone down to hop into the shower. 

 

While in the shower, the hollow feeling of something important kept tickling your mind. _Why can't I remember your face.._ The thought was like a broken record, repeating itself throughout the rest of your shower. 

While drying your hair with a towel after putting on cute underwear and a bra, you walked over to your closet. Shuffling through your clothes on their hangers, you decided on a black T-shirt and light blue high waisted shorts with a long strip of fabric around the waist to tie into a bow as a belt. When your hair was dry, you tied your hair up into a bun on the crown of your head. _It was so vivid earlier… it's really starting to bother me._ You puffed out your cheeks for a moment as you racked your brain for answers, desperately trying to grasp at any sign of a clue within your mind. After putting on a bit of makeup, you grabbed a blue ribbon and tied it in a bow under your bun. Standing still in front of the mirror, your eyes scanned your appearance for a moment until you were satisfied. You closed your eyes and let out a deep sigh. 

_“Until next time._ ” His voice rang in your ears. Your eyes snapped open at the imaginary sound _. I have to remember!_ You repeated his words over and over in your mind, trying to memorize his voice. You were pulled from your thoughts when your phone rang, Ignis’ name appearing on the screen. _Shoot! I have to go!_ You answered your phone, receiving his words before even being able to let out a ‘hello’. 

“I'll be there in about 2 minutes, I do hope that you're ready. I'm hanging up now.” And just as quick as it had come, the call was done. You hurried to grab your bag, hoisting it over your shoulder as you quickly waddled over to the door, exchanging your slippers with your brown boots and grabbing your keys. You opened the door and walked outside, closing the door behind you and locking it. As soon as you turned around, the ever so elegant Regalia pulled up to the curb. You opened the passenger door and sat down, closing the door and putting on your seatbelt. You couldn't help but glance in the backseat, looking for the owner of the spot. _So he's not here today, huh…_ Trying to hide your disappointment, you looked towards the window and scrunched up your nose. 

“Noct traveled to school with Prompto today.” Ignis stated nonchalantly, causing you to flinch. Your head whipped in his direction, too flustered to hide your red cheeks. 

“I-I wasn't concerned about it!” You insisted, earning a rare genuine laugh from your cousin. “Maybe we’ll all have to travel together one day.” Ignis said as he drove, his eyes not moving away from the road. Looking down at your lap, you clasped your hands and stared at your fingers. 

“That would make me too nervous.” Ignis seemed to be caught off-guard by your honest reply, looking over at you when he had reached a stoplight. “I'm sure you're correct. You would most likely implode.” He laughed as he teased you, and it was so warm that you couldn't even pretend to be upset with him. 

These moments that you both could be honest and silly were moments that you cherished deeply. You know your cousin is a serious person, he has a serious job set up for him for the rest of his life. He has always had a lot going on, and while you grew up, that was intimidating. It's hard to approach someone that is so absorbed in what they believe they need to achieve, whether they are related to you by blood or not. He was the prodigy of the family bloodline and it was hard for you to shine with such an intense shadow covering your every move. But with both of you having a lack of siblings and young relatives your age, you gradually became closer and had more of a brother-sister relationship. And you wouldn't want it any other way. 

The car ride continued in a pleasant silence, the sun shining through the tinted windows. You saw the school creep closer as you arrived, Ignis once again showing his hawk eye skills when he found yet another perfect parking space. Exiting the car, you looked over at Ignis, calling out to him, “Text me when you want to leave, okay? See you later!” You saw him smile and wave over at you before you quickly turned and briskly walked toward your Lucian history lecture. _I wonder if they beat me to class today._ A smile was plastered on your face as you neared the lecture hall. You opened the large door, walking in and looking up through the columns, seeing only a few people in the room. _Ah, I won again._ You bit the inside of your lip to keep yourself from laughing as you hopped up the stairs to your favorite spot, walking over and was interrupted by something that was not part of your routine. You stood frozen in your tracks as you looked down at a neatly folded note on the desk, exactly where your usual spot was. 

You looked around at the few people in the room, wondering if anyone had left it here. Slowly sitting down in your seat, your eyes never left the paper. Your eyes scanned the room again when you slowly reached for it, testing to see if there would be any suspicious reaction from those around you. When you were sure that there was no sign of anyone in the room having any visible sign to do with the note, you turned it over and examined it. You felt a pang in your heart as something in your conscious screamed at you to open it, causing your hands to shake. After a moment of hesitation, you opened the note, the contents causing you to freeze. 

_“You look beautiful in red._

_I wish you wore it more during the day.”_


End file.
